BUILDING STRENGTH AFTER HURRICANE MICHAEL: Tyndall Air Force Base
BY COL BRIAN S. LAIDLAW, 325TH FIGHTER WING COMMANDER PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE
Hurricane Michael left immense destruction in its wake, as many of you well know. Our community has changed both on base and off. The familiar sights and sounds have disappeared and been replaced with unfamiliar scenes. One thing that has not changed, and is even more evident, is the resolve and strength of our community.
On Tyndall itself, we continue to see growth both in personnel as well as in the scope of work we are undertaking in this recovery process. Our Airmen and mission partners are the key to recovering our base. Over the past few weeks, we flew some of our F-22 Raptors to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., finished our initial structures assessment, and installed tarps on many roofs. We returned power to many areas, started mold remediation, completed debris removal in housing as well as nearly half of the base overall.
We opened the gates to on-base housing for residents to retrieve their personal property and we accomplished a great many other important recovery tasks. Our team has worked hard, day and night in order to accomplish so much in such a short time. Airmen and contractors have come from all over the country to join our original ride-out team of 93 people to recover the base. The team we have is exceptional, and the Air Force sent us the right people for the job. We assembled three task forces with experts from across the Air Force to address our immediate requirements for our aircraft, our structures, and our people. Members from the 820th Base Defense Group, 621st Contingency Response Wing, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron, and so many others have answered our call. Today we have about an equal mix of Tyndall-assigned personnel and highly motivated teammates who came from other bases.
Like you, we look to the future. There are unquestionably some uncertainties. One thing that is certain is that the Secretary of the Air Force announced earlier this month that many of our missions will be returning. We will work toward the timelines she gave us, and we will make sure that all of our Airmen are either settled or on the path to settling at a new base before the winter holidays. We will take care of all our Airmen and their families. The road to success will require teamwork with our many partners across the community, state, Air Force, Department of Defense, and the country. We are proud to be a part of such a resilient, hard-working, dedicated, and singularly focused community. We will be good neighbors and we look forward to moving toward a brighter future together. You and your families remain in our thoughts every day. We are all better today than we were yesterday, and tomorrow we will all be better than today.
